UNF professor's study indicates flower reduce stress

Thursday

A new study by University of North Florida professor Erin Largo-Wight shows that flowers can reduce stress.

The study is part of “nature contact” series in which Largo-Wight has been studying how nature affects people's everyday stress levels and overall health.

“We spend 90 percent of our time indoors and that’s why it’s so important,” she said.

Largo-Wight said creating “restorative and calming” spaces is important to good health because stress affects overall health immensely.

“It’s exciting to me because it’s a simple behavior,” she said, “Something like this is a way to improve your health without a tremendous amount of effort.”

The study was conducted over 12 days. In it, 170 women either received a delivery of flowers, a candle, or nothing on the fifth or sixth day. Every day, each participant would fill out a survey that measured their levels of stress and the results were analyzed.

Participants' questionnaires showed an average of nine percent reduction of stress on the Perceived Stress Questionnaire when they had flowers delivered and in their home.

“People that have been incorporating more nature into their environment have been saying they feel better but it’s important to have the scientific findings [to back it up].”

Largo-Wight is an associate public health professor at UNF and has done studies previously on “Health by Design” and other behavioral research, including studies that tested how children reacted in indoor and outdoor classrooms and the effect of outdoor versus indoor work breaks.

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